Steam Thermal Production of Electricity Energy:

Steam or Thermal Electricity Power is produced in much the same manner as Hydro Electricity except rather than using water pressure from a dam as the energy source; steam pressure created by heating water with Fossil Fuels is used as the energy source.

Fossil Fuels to Electricity:

Conventional Steam Electricity Power Plants heats water to above the boiling point creating steam using an energy source such as Oil, Coal or Gas. Boiling water inside an enclosed chamber, called the boiler, creates a tremendous high steam pressure inside the boiler. The pressure is piped from the boiler into a steam turbine. The high pressure steam is directed onto bucket shaped or rotor blades in the turbine causing the central shaft to spin which is attached to a generator, producing electricity. ( Photo Source: U.S. Geological Survey)



 

The Steam Turbine:

The steam turbine is more complicated than the water wheel system as it also takes advantage of the dynamics of expansion and contractions of gas, as the superheated steam begins to cool when it is passing through the turbine it creates a vacuum on the discharge side of the turbine, the hotter steam at the inlet side of turbine moves towards the cooler side creating addition energy power. The steam is run through 3 sets of turbines to maximize the power efficiency from the cooling steam. As the steam cools it condenses back into water which is pumped back to the boiler and the process is repeated.

   

Steam Electricity Production:

A single steam turbine can produce 2,000,000 hp (horse power) and generate 1,500,000 kW of electricity energy.Steam Electricity has been in use for 120 years and produces 70 percent of electricity used in the world today.

The Steam Problem:

Steam Electricity Power Plants use Gas, Oil and Coal (Fossil Fuels) as the heating source for the water, these are carbon based fuels that when used in the heating process exhaust Carbon Dioxide Gas (CO2) which is now known to be the major cause of Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect. Electricity generated with fossil fuels contributes 72 percent of the worldwide CO2 emissions.

In addition to the CO2 emissions other partials naturally contained in the coal are sent into the air, one of these is natural elements is uranium. For every 1,000KW of electricity produced 5.5 tons per year of uranium is released into the air, a 100 times more than a nuclear power plant. For more details on the Steam Turbine and History of Steam.
Fore more information of uses of Steam Electricity USGS site.